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Tag: Göteborg

Johan, Patric and I paddled to Vinga last weekend. It was pretty calm weather and I haven’t been to Vinga in January before. The island Vinga is located furthest west in the Gothenburg archipelago. It’s is exposed it is a fairly long day trip, nearly 32 km back and forth. Vinga has one of oldest and also is one the most famous light houses in Sweden. Anders paddled with us the first part of the kayak trip but turned back at Böttö. I was really tired back home.

Johan in his Clapotis Sea Kayak and Patric in his Surfski from Zedtech. Just before we got the headwind at Böttö.

Lunch break by the light house. The light house stairs protect us from the wind.

16 km each way from the harbour to Vinga. I was so tired and fell asleep in the cinema later in the evening.

2011 was a great year for paddling. Here are some of my best kayak trips from the past year.

February

Still winter in Sweden. The winter was really long and cold during 2011. I bought a new kayak and my Qanik from Seabird arrived in mid february and no chance to paddle it until late march.

April

Fjällbacka is one of the most beautiful archipelagos in Sweden. We did a great trip in the end of april. Cold but beautiful. Read more about Paddling in Fjällbacka Archipelago

May

I tried a surfski for the first time and I got stucked. Surfski is great fun. Later on I bought a surfski. Read more about Surfski Spring Camp.

A new competition in paddling was held in the harbour of Göteborg at the same day as the world biggest half marathon in Göteborg. I didn’t compete but I got some great photos. Maybe I will compete in May!? 🙂 Read more about Paddelvarvet.

June

My friend Maria and I went for a weekend trip in well known water. This is normally a period when I hardly do any kayaking due to my allergy. Great weather and some new spots discovered. Gothenburg archipelago is really great for paddling. Read more about Paddling in Göteborg Archipelago.

July

The Gothenburg Canoe Association (GKF) had an evening with two really good sprint kayakers who gave us instructions. read more about the Paddling instructions event.

The annual kayak gathering at Valö south of Gothenburg was greatas usual. There was a kayak incident that turned out well. Read more about the Valöträffen.

North of the arctic circle is a great kayak event held every year. We attended for the first time. Loved it! 🙂 Read more about Arctic Sea Kayak Race.

August

Paddling in Lofoten

Paddling holiday

September

The best kayak symposium i have ever been to. Nigel Foster, Gordon Brown, Dubside and many more. Great Instructors, great arrangement and great weather. Read more about the Tjäröfestivalen.

October

I have been more into surfski during the fall than ordinary sea kayaking. Read more about Testing a drysuit andsearching for waves.

November

November was a month with hardly any paddling at all. We had a weekend of gray paddling. Read more about the gray Weekend paddling.

December

The year ended with great weather and we had a beautful paddling trip to Valö. Read more about the paddling trip.

Finally is the weather decent enough to do some kayaking. Just in time for the new year and the winter… My friends Pia, Erik, Patric and I had a great paddling in Göteborg Archipelago. The days between christmas and new years eve is pretty soft at work. I could work from “home” and my home yesterday was Valö! A great way of ending the paddling and working year. 🙂

Happy new year everybody. Let 2012 be a great year for kayaking!

The sunset was magnificent.

Dramatic clouds but hardly any wind.

Pia is paddling her green Skim kayak. When she is not paddling, hardly ever happens, she is creating really nice silver jewelry.

Sunrise at Valö

The winter is coming closer. Frost on the deck this morning.

Patric has bought a new kayaking hat! Orange…

I had to break through some ice to get ashore.

Great weather but the ice will make it harder for me to launch the kayak the next coming months. Today it was easy to break through.

Last week has been really long because I have been longing to paddle my new surfski. The forecast was really good for surfski paddling today with winds from north about 10 m/s (37 km/h or 20 knots). Trent Victor and I decided to paddle downwind from Göteborg. My friend Maria was really nice and agreed to pick us up about 20 km south of Göteborg. When we arrived at the harbour the were hardly any wind at all. We changed our plans and went searching for waves from the bigger boats in the archipelago instead.

Trent Victor in the harbour after the paddle trip. I forgot to bring the camera today. This is taken with my iPhone.

We got some really nice runs from the waves produced of a couple of boats. My top speed was 19,4 km/h (12.1 miles/h). New record to me! 🙂 It is getting colder in the water. The temperatures is still ok but pretty soon the wet suit I’m using will be to thin. Trent is using a dry suit from Ursuit that looks really nice for surfski paddling. I have ordered a different drysuit from Ursuit that I think is more suitable both for seakayaking and surfski paddling.

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We have had a long weekend in Sweden with excellent paddling weather. My friend Maria and I went our for three days of paddling in Göteborg Archipelago. The scenery in Göteborg archipelago is really nice and the access is also really good. I’d like to see the Älvsborg fortress again, and Maria had never been there before. It is located in the entrance of Göteborg harbour. So the distance is short but we have to cross the inlet to the harbour to reach the fortress. The traffic to and from Göteborg is sometimes very heavy but today it was just some ferries to and from Denmark that we had to keep attention to.

Maria outside the fortress

The guns at the fortress used to guard the city of Göteborg. But did it quite poorly…

Denmark has been succesful in capturing the fortress and the Swedish taxes raised to pay the ransom for the fortress i 1570. Since then we have kept the taxes at a high rate. 🙂

From Älvsborgs fästning we continued paddling to Galterö where we spent the first night. I have been to Galterö before before. The weather was nice but it got cold during the night.

Tent spot at Galterö. The second day offered really nice weather.

Kayaking among the skerries outside the island of Vargö.

From Galterö we paddled south toward Rävholmen. We had a nice soft tailwind and it did not take long until we reached Rävholmen.

I was very pleased with my Qanik from the beginning and I start to appreciate it even more. I have re-mounted the back support. It gives me great support but it takes some time to adjust it before paddling because I sit on the back support each time I sit in the kayak. But it is worth it. I tried without the support but I was not strong enough to keep myself in a good paddling position. The acceleration of the Qanik is impressive. I catch waves that I have not managed to catch before. This was also the first time I have been out for more than one night with the Qanik. It works really well.

A swan appeared quite close to us

A good friend, Fredrik, appeared quite close to us. 🙂

After spending an hour at a café together with some sea kayaking friends at the island of Styrsö we headed for Hinsholmen after a really nice seakayaking trip.

Göteborgsvarvet, the world’s biggest half marathon, took place today in Göteborg. Approx 75,000 runners will participate in one of the races during the GöteborgsVarvet weekend 20-22 of May 2011. Today was also the first time the newly instituted paddling race Paddelvarvet took place. The Paddelvarvet is not as big as the Göteborgsvarvet. About 30-40 participants struggled for 21 km in Göteborg Harbour and channels.

The paddlers are crossing the Göta Älv to do the first leg in the Channels.

One paddler passing the fish market Feskekôrka

The winner? Jens Thorild paddling the channels for the second time and is in leading position.

Some parts of the race is really nice

Paddling in the city center

Paddan is the tourist trap. Why go by motor boat when you can use a kayak!